The Pretender

Wolf Hall meets Demon Copperhead in a sharply ambitious, brilliantly imagined and hugely entertaining story of intrigue, deceit, revenge and ambition

**NAMED AS BEST HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE SUNDAY TIMES**
**PICKED AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025 BY THE GUARDIAN, SUNDAY TIMES, DAILY MAIL, AND THE I**
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE WINSTON GRAHAM HISTORICAL PRIZE**
**LONGLISTED FOR THE HWA GOLD CROWN 2026**

'Wickedly funny ... the filthy, clever, immersive picaresque you didn't know you needed' Guardian, The best fiction of 2025
'I read it with the dedicated fervour of a kid discovering literature for the first time' Yael van der Wouden
'Funny, moving, filthy and original' The Times
'So alive I felt Harkin might be a time traveller' Maggie Shipstead
'The most enjoyable historical novel I've read in years' Spectator
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Kill the pretender. Do not let it be known that there was a pretender to kill.
The year is 1483 and England is in peril. The much-despised Richard III is not long for the throne, and the man who will become Henry VII stands poised to snatch the crown for himself. But for twelve-year-old John Collan, living in a remote village with his widowed father, these matters seem far away.
But history has other plans for John.
Stolen from his family, exiled - first to Oxford, then to Burgundy, and then Ireland - and apprenticed to a series of unscrupulous political operators, he finds himself groomed for power; not as John Collan, but as Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick - and rightful heir to the throne.
Far from home at the Irish court, preparing for a war that will see him become king or die trying, John has just his wits - and the slippery counsel of his host's daughter, the unconventional Joan - to navigate the choppy waters ahead.
Seething with revenge and machination, sparkling with wit and humanity, and roaring with adventure and bravado, The Pretender is the captivating true story of a young man tossed into the chaos of history as it happens.

**Praise for The Pretender**
'A brainy, heartfelt delight' Guardian, 50 hottest books to read now
'Witty, poignant, wildly engaging, and with a huge heart' Sarah Waters
'Touching and hilarious' The Times, 80 best books to take on holiday
'Like a Plantagenet Adrian Mole' Jenny Colgan
'A rollicking account of a befuddled boy's pillar-to-post existence as a political pawn' New York Times
'The real deal - nimble, vibrant, playful, and daring' Kiran Millwood Hargrave
'Ambitious, mischievous and brilliantly written' Daily Mail
'I blazed through full of wonder and admiration' Emma Stonex